City of Loveland blasts holes in Big Thompson Canyon mountainside for new power poles (video added)

Project will reconnect electricity to 150 customers who have been cut off since September flood

By Craig Young Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
12/16/2013 06:01:16 PM MST

DRAKE -- The city of Loveland blasted holes in the rocky mountainsides of the Big Thompson Canyon on Monday to prepare for new power poles that will restore electricity to areas that have been cut off since the flood.

"Fire in the hole!" called out Travis Kitchen, owner of Badger Drilling & Blasting, moments before setting off a series of explosive charges.

With three almost simultaneous thumps, the blasts threw dirt and broken rocks into the air, leaving three softened spots where crews could dig 51/2-foot-deep holes by hand.

Dirt and rocks fly into the air Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, as crews blast a hole in the ground near Cedar Cove so power poles can be placed and electricity can be restored to areas that have been cut off since the flood.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

On Monday, Loveland Water and Power worked with Kitchen and a crew from Loveland-based GE Construction to dig 18 holes along the hillside south of U.S. 34 just west of Cedar Cove.

On Wednesday, a helicopter hired by the city will lift new wooden power poles from a staging area and drop them one by one into the holes.

Garth Silvernale, power operations supervisor for the city, said the flooding Big Thompson River took out the poles in the hard-hit Cedar Cove area in September, cutting electricity to city customers in the canyon.

This week's work will move the city's main distribution line to higher ground on the south side of the highway, farther from the river, following an existing line of telephone poles.

About 150 of the city's 300 electric customers in the canyon are without power more than three months after the flood, according to Kim O'Field, a technical specialist with Loveland Water and Power.

She said the three-stage project to string new lines will involve more than 40 new poles and will restore power all the way west to the end of Waltonia Road west of Drake.

O'Field couldn't give an estimate of how long it would take to fully connect the area.

A crew prepares to blast a hole in the side of a mountain Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, near Cedar Cove west of Loveland in preparation for new power poles that will be installed near these phone poles. Workers from the city of Loveland, GE Construction and Badger Drilling & Blasting are prepping the area to restore power to homes that have been cut off since the flood.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

"Because weather is such a factor in this, it's really hard to tell," she said. "We've already been delayed by the weather."

She added that areas would be connected incrementally, as the lines are completed and energized.

But before a home can be reconnected, it must be assessed by a state electrical inspector, according to a press release from the city.

Monday's blasting took place on city land, but other stretches of the line cross the national forest. The city had to get approval from the U.S. Forest Service, Larimer County and the Federal Emergency Management Agency before the work could begin, the release said.

Travis Kitchen, left, owner of Badger Drilling & Blasting, hands a reel of shock tube, which is used to set off explosive charges, to GE Construction employees Jake Sauer, center, and Cody Sewell as they prepare to blast a hole in the side of a mountain Monday, Dec. 16, 2013, near Cedar Cove. Crews are preparing the area for new power poles so they can restore electricity to Loveland Water and Power customers who have been without since the flood.
(
Jenny Sparks
)